Scuba diving, a Buoyancy Compensator (BDC) vs a Back Plate and wing, is always a topic many people are passionate about. This and maybe split fits are some of the most divisive topics in scuba diving. I will not try and convince you that one is better than the other. Instead, I will do my best to present you with the information as I see it, and I encourage you to keep an open mind about diving. Keep your long-term dive goals in mind, and after this article, try diving in both styles and see what works for you!
When I started diving in 2009, I had no idea there was a difference between Jacket style BCD and Backplate and wing. I did my open water and advanced open water in several versions of a Jacket style BCD. When I took my Open water diver, I was certified at a resort in Mexico where the importance of buoyancy and trim was barely a topic mentioned, and I thought nothing of it. I was always just happy to be in the water. In 2010 I bought my first used BCD. It was an Oceanic (find brand). I dove this BCD for about 25-30 dives, and I would regularly get compliments on my Trim and my positions in the water. I didn’t think too much about it. I told myself, “I am a natural. That’s why I am getting compliments” lol.
In time I was exposed to the backplate and wing setup, which opened my eyes to the idea that I wasn’t that good of a diver. It just so happened that the one used BCD I bought happened not to be a jacket style BCD, but a BCD with a back wing in a donut shape but not a genuine backplate and wing set up and not a Jacket style BCD. It still made me think all those complements had nothing to do with my skill but the luck of picking a BCD that helped me have an efficient position in the water. All this is to say, choosing the right equipment to work toward your scuba diving goal and safety will make all your dive more enjoyable. Let’s look at the differences in BCD and Backplate and Wing setup and the pros and cons of each.
Comfort
There is often a debate about which one is more comfortable wearing a BCD or a Backplate and Wing. And to be completely honest, I can see why people would feel that a BCD is more comfortable than a backplate and wing setup. Many BCD comes standard with padded straps that are part of the BCD, and they will also have weight pockets that are conveniently placed for you right around your waist. This will help you float in the water in a vertical position which feels quite natural as that is the same position that we walk in. Most jacket style BCD is completely meant for style and comfort, almost more than functions. There can even be plastic buckles conveniently placed at your chest level to help you take the BCD off. Often there are several plastic D rings to attach accessories. Most of these features make a jacket style BCD comfortable to wear and help you sit comfortably on the water’s surface. These are some of the features that make them so appealing.
A Backplate and Wing in a standard configuration, meaning just an aluminum/stainless steel backplate with the standard webbing for the harness attached to the appropriately sized wing, definitely isn’t as comfortable as a jacket style BCD. It will be more functional and less likely to fail on you, but comfort is still a big deal. After all, we are recreational diving. That is not necessary anymore as backplate and wing manufacturers have solved the comfort problem in several ways. Making a backplate and wing just as or even more comfortable than even the most premium Jacket Style BCD. The main reason is that manufacturers have made the Backplate and wing modular. One can buy padding to add to the straps on the backplate harness if you feel like that will help. You can also pick from a variety of back plate padding. Some padding has extra features like storage pockets to help when you need more storage. There are also different pocket configurations one can pick from that will help keep accessories if you have them and any weights you may need.
Finally, the Halcyon dive system even had something called the sync system that will help you adjust your backplate harness to fit snugly as it should but make it super easy to take the harness on and off. All these extras one can get for their backplate system will create a backplate just as comfortable as any jacket style BCD and make it more functional and far more durable than a jacket style BCD.
Position in the water
Your position in the water in the water both when on the surface and more importantly, while diving can be greatly affected by the BCD or Backplate and Wing and how it’s set up. It is often said that a BCD will hold you upright when on the surface. And the backplate and wing won’t let you sit vertically on the surface. On the other hand, a backplate and wing will often keep you in a prone or horizontal position, similar to when underwater on the surface. Because the backplate is efficient at keeping you in the horizontal position in the water, some people feel like the Backplate and wing will force you to be prone when on the surface, which would feel like the wing is forcing you to put your face in the water when on the surface. This is the most common argument for why a BCD is better than a Backplate and wing configuration.
Concurrently most backplate and wing divers will tell you that a BCD will keep you in a more vertical position during a dive causing you to expend a lot more energy there for breathing your air a lot faster, causing more fatigue. In addition, some people believe being in a vertical position during a dive makes you less aware of where your fins are and make it likely that you will drag them through coral and other sensitive habitats.
In my opinion, both scenarios are valid, and both are false. Most jacket-style BCDs are meant for comfort more than functions, so yes, they will allow you to sit comfortably on the water’s surface, which is a nice feature. Unfortunately, most BCDs that will hold you vertically on the surface will also do an excellent job of keeping you VERTICAL. At the same time, diving in the water can lead you to expend more effort, and if you are not a conscientious diver, your fins may drag through the sensitive habitat. I see this regularly at my local dive spot. Like I lucked out with my first BCD, which had the wing behind me and not around me, which I found was a good blend of both. There are brands such as Zeagle trying to find a balance between both worlds.
Do Backplates force your face into the water when on the surface? Well YES! And NO.
A backplate and wing will enable you to be the most efficient diver in the water while diving, as it will do its best to keep you in a prone/horizontal plane while on the dive. When you reach the surface, BCD’s main difference is that one shouldn’t inflate their wing till it is at its max inflations on the surface as one could do with a BCD. This is because if you just fill your wing with enough air to hold your head out of the water just below the collar line, you will sit vertically just as comfortably as any jacket-style BCD. If you overinflate your wing because it is behind you and not around you, the wing will first lift you to your collar line, but after that, yes, it will start to dip you forward because the wing is behind you. So a diver just has to be a little mindful when they end a dive in a wing that there is no reason to overinflate your wing.
Even though I dive a backplate and wing as my standard kit, there is something very gratifying when you are in a jacket style BCD to inflate the heck out of your BCD and float around on the surface in your lazy boy chair at the end of a great dive lol.
Reliability and durability
How durable and reliable a piece of equipment is very important. There is nothing worse than spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a piece of equipment that you love, only to see it degrade and fall apart each and every dive. Unfortunately, I feel this can be an actual situation if you select specific types of BCD.
The backplate and wing excel in this category primarily because of the materials used in the harness and the backplate, the placement of the D Rings and the lack of plastic buckles, which leads to having very few to almost no braking point in the backplate and wing set up. In addition, most BCDs have integrated weight pockets that place the bulk of the weight in the BCD around your waist.
This is a convenient and user-friendly setup that works for many people. However, realize that it is tough to design a vest that will withstand many years of frequent diving when you have 6-26lb of lead stored in the pockets that are part of the jacket/vest style BCD.
Every dive, that weight will pull and tug on the seams as you take the BCD off, and the weight will bang on the ground and other surfaces, leading to holes in the material and strain on the plastic buckles. There aren’t too many situations where lead in a jacket/vest BCS pockets will last as long as a backplate and wing set up. When diving a backplate and wing, one tries to distribute your weight behind you in between the backplate and tank and weight pockets on the tank.
One will also factor in which backplate to use as an aluminum plate weighs less than stainless, possibly requiring little to no lead. One can get accessory pockets that attach to the harness if you need some weight around your waist to balance out your trim in the water. Because the lead is distributed on the backplate and wing, one can get add-on pockets for the harness. It makes the configurations more durable as the weight is fixed better to the harness and not floating in pockets and makes the setup more modular. The material that the harness on a backplate and wing are made out of usually are far more robust than most jacket style BCD on the market.
customization/personal fit
I have covered how customized the backplate and harness are compared to a jacket-style BCD. That is a significate difference in a backplate and wing configuration compared to a Jacket style BCD. As far as I understand, there aren’t custom-built jacket-style BCDs, but there is a massive variety of brands and styles. All have pros and cons for durability, reliability, and comfort, but if you are in a reputable shop with a large selection, you could find a jacket style BCD that will give you the feel of a custom fit. They also often have several staps and buckles to help them fit different body types. The only downside to this is that every extra buckle and strap leads to a potential breaking point, leading to lost dive time and the least opportune time. This is where the backplate wing with a harness, I feel, surpasses jacket style BCD. Every backplate and wing has the same three main components: a backplate which can come in various sizes, materials, weights, and different sized wings that you can affix to the backplate depending on whether your cold water diving warm water or even diving doubles. Finally, all harnesses should be made of a durable Cordura nylon strap that everything attaches to because the backplate and wing are so modular, and all the accessories available for them in terms of back padding and storage pockets, strap padding and the Halcyon synch system. There is no reason not to have the most efficient, durable and comfortable setup with minor compromises in performance and cost.
As you can see, there are pros and cons to both systems. Diving a jacket style BCD is nice because they usually are pretty comfortable with minimal adjustments and go for a dive, which is why it works well for a rental situation. However, when you consider buying your equipment and plan to dive more regularly, I strongly encourage you to explore a backplate and wing. Although they will generally be cheaper than a premium jacket style BCD with some bells and whistles, they are also far more durable and efficient than most Jacket styles BCDs. Additionally, I feel you can’t go wrong with the customizability and variety of configurations you can get with a backplate and wing.
My current dive setup is a Halcyon 40lb lift wing for double 100 cu/ft tanks, with a 1.5-inch dive rite Cordura nylon harness on an aluminum dive rite backplate with the Halcyon MC storage Pak. So for complete transparency, I am very biased toward a backplate and wing setup. I hope this article has piqued your interest in a progress dive configuration like a backplate and wing setup.
Check out this video by The Modern Diver channel, a dive instructor breaking down the pros and cons of a backplate and wing VS a BCD. Also, check out all his other video if you want to know more about a progressive dive configuration.